The GAZETTE, Montreol, Wed., Morch 21, 1973 7 Liberals ready to try anything to regain power in the West ·

voicing western Canadian interests within the party, but an increased awareness of their role in relation to By the national party which could cause friction with federal ministers. Peter Even if the conference goes smooth- ly, its success will still depend on the Desbarats response that it evokes from the prime minister. A conference that moves too far VANCOUVER - Since they wrested ahead of Trudeau in stating western power from the Diefenbaker govem- requirements will defeat its. own ment a decade ago, and particularly purpose. Its resolutions could then be smce they chose as used against the prime minister by leader in 1968, Liberals have been the Conservative and NDP premiers singularly unsuccessful in dealing at the July meeting. Wlth a growing spirit of discontent in The potential for trouble at the June western . conference is so evident that the This feeling was so strong by last decision to hold it is a revealing October that it almost cancelled out indication of just how desperate the the Trudeau government's obvious Liberals are about western Canada. success since 1970 in reducing ten- The organizers already are taking sions between Quebec and the rest of steps to reduce some of the risks. It the nation. As the situation in Quebec has already been decided that the improved from Ottawa's point of number of delegates will be limited to VIew, western Canadians seemed to several hundred. The participation of feel further removed from a meaning- IZZY ASPER non-voting observers and alternate ful .role in federal affairs except as Competitor for influence delegates will be strictly controlled. critics whose ballots filled the opposi- At the first meeting of the five- tion benches in the House of Com- . member organizing committee in mons. this process are as complex as those in an atomic pile, and far less Regina, there was discussion on a Almost anything predictable. draft of conference objectives which There is, to begin with, the difficult would limit the conference to resolu- Mter last October's election, the business of integrating distinctive tions specifically related to western imbalance in Liberal support was so concerns in a con- Canada, and primarily to economic glaring that the party was ready to ference dominated by prairie dele- questions. There would be room in the do almost anything to redress it. So gates. This isn't a new problem but it conference for general discussion of the Liberals have decided to gamble could become more apparent in the the future of western Canada but the on a process that appears to be the Vancouver setting of this year's resolutions of the conference would political equivalent of power genera- conference. have a fairly specific focus. tion by controlled nuclear fission. There will probably be a sharp Like the forces released by atomic increase in the competition for influ- Full-time organizer division, the regional forces which ence and prominence at the conven- continually threaten to blow Canada tion between the four cabinet minis- The importance that Ottawa at- apart can also be sources of immense ters from the west and the four taches to the conference is indicated political power. If they can be provincial party leaders. This will be by the appointment of Gordon Gibson .controlled and combined, they can be even more apparent if Asper of as organizing chairman. Gibson's generators of national pride and Manitoba still has a provincial elec- western credentials are impeccable development. tion ahead of him when the confer- but a good part of his political Used in another way, they can ence meets in June. education was . gained as one of. the provide the power to maintain small original members of the prime min- political groupings on .the national Up to PM ister's office after 1968. scene for considerable periods of Gibson left the PMO to contest Trudeau's meeting with the four against one of the time. In the West, this has been leaders in Regina last December has demonstrated by Social Credit and, Conservatives' ablest candidates, John not only given them. a greater sense Fraser. Apart from a weekly news- to a lesser extent, the New Demo- of coherence, as a group capable of cratic Party, unhampered by the paper column in Vancouver, he is now restrictions of power in Ottawa. devoting all his time to organizing the Vancouver conference - the first Now the Liberals, impelled by time that a western Liberal confer- necessity, have decided to see wheth- it ence has been assisted by this kind of er is possible . to utilize the talent on a full-time basis. discontent in western Canada to The importance that Trudeau al- power their return to a majority in ready has given the Vancouver con- Ottawa. this ference, in public speeches and The "reactor" for experiment private talks with various party will be the regional conference that will from officials, has generated cme excite- the party hold in Vancouver ment among western Liberals. But June 22 to 24. there is also a great deal of barely New start concealed skepticism. Western Liberal conferences have been churning out If 1he process works, 1he conference resolutions every two years since 1966 will produce the beginning of the new without much noticeable effect on national policy that the prime minis- Ottawa, according to some party ter already has described as its main members. objective. A longtime Liberal in Alberta These western Liberal policies will recalled asking one of the western then form the background of Tru- ministers recently about the fate of deau's own approach to the four resolutions passed in previous confer- western premiers at the July confer- ences. ence in Vancouver on western econ- "When I have a policy I want to omic opportunities. push, I look through the resolutions to That is the scenario if everything see if I can find one that fits," he goes without a hitch. But the potential said. for trouble is enormous. The number GORDON GIBSON "If I can't, they go back into the and sequence of the inter-reactions in Top talent working full-time bottom drawer."